Joel 1:13 to end of chapter

Joel 1:13 “Gird up and lament, priests. Howl, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God. For the food offering and the drink offering are held back from the house of your God.”

Joel is giving instructions to pass on generation to generation (see 1:3). It is not what to do now but what to do then. We know this by reading verse 15. That time to which Joel refers is end time [Tribulation] now at hand. All blessings are held back. It is called “the day of the Lord-Jehovah” by Joel.

Joe 1:14  “Set apart a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the elders, all those living in the land, into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah. (v15) Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is[then] at hand. And it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.”

Israelis (Judeans?) are instructed by Joel as to the time, the identification or summary of the issues to be noted, and what to do about it. When? At mid-tribulation when sacrificing, not meeting, but sacrificing in the Temple to Jehovah will no longer be permitted. Includes identity issues through verse 18].

Here is a list of the travesties that are signs of that time for Israel.

1. Food and drink offerings are [forcibly] held back (this indicates the time it will happen)
2. Food is cut off to the population
3. No joy or gladness can be found
4. Seed shrivels even before it is planted
5. Storage bins (cupboards and stores) lay empty and broken
6. Animals (beasts) pale for lack of subsistence
7. Open area grazing is no longer available to herds
8. The farmer’s field and crops has perished
9. The grape vine and fig are dried up meaning dead
10. The pomegranate, palm, and apple trees are dead
11. Sheep who graze the nubbins of grass cannot find food.
12. River and water supplies dry up
13. The wilderness becomes without grass or fern.

It will take this amount of devastation to finally get the “Jews” to turn from G-d to God. To turn one who is in their eyes a crucified fake now into their Messiah.

This is no longer a nation of people. No king is even mentioned. No empire is mentioned. Joel speaks to Israelis as if one-on-one: father-to-son, generation to the next generation. This is a continuous clause meaning it will need to be an ongoing “pass it on” thing for the PEOPLE descending from the Tribes of Jacob, not as an existing nation or kingdom. This sounds post Babylonian exile.

Rev Jstark – 2021